Walking

Yoga Lessons Revisited: She Like To Move It, Move It

/ Ally Bean / 59 Comments

I’ve stretched my body more lately.  To make my joints more flexible, my alignment more comfortable, my muscles more toned.  Doing yoga asanas, that is.  Or my middle-aged out-of-shape reinterpretation of them.

It’s been a little over 10 years since I stopped going to yoga classes on a regular basis.

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LESSON #1

“Keep on meeting the edge.”

~ said Kathy, who moved away from the city to live on an organic farm

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I had always enjoyed taking yoga classes, but my favorite instructors, who each had her own way of explaining life on and off the mat, stopped teaching.

The only woman I could find who did not do hot yoga, which I think is nuts, was more about selling her book and CDs than teaching yoga.  She was quite the personality kid, which annoyed me.

So I stopped attending her classes, thinking I’d continue my practice on my own.

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LESSON #2

“When in doubt, don’t.”

~ said Donna, who got a newspaper byline and is living her dream of being a writer

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But you know how things like that go.  Procrastination + laziness took over– and eventually the idea of daily yoga practice floated out of my monkey mind.

However, this fall I acknowledged that I’m getting older and that I’m beginning to walk more THUNK * THUNK * THUNK than flow * flow * flow.  Which is to say my daily walks are morphing into daily moseys because I’m going slower and slower.

Re-enter daily yoga practice.

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LESSON #3

“Well isn’t that interesting?”

~ said Cathy, who had a hip replacement then decided to retire with her husband to somewhere warm

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I’ve yet to commit to a specific time and place for my stretching, but if memory serves, back years ago when I was really into yoga, I used the late afternoon as my practice time… which I suppose I could do again.

And that, my gentle readers, is what’s up with me today in my quest to age gracefully + not keel over by the side of the road.

Ever onward, I say.  Each of us moving forward in our own way.

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“Fizz-a-cally-fit, Fizz-a-cally-fit…”

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Hazy Summer Days & A Less Than Brilliant Idea

/ Ally Bean / 20 Comments

Over the weekend we went for a walk on the trails in a wooded, overgrown section of a city park.  It was hazy and hot outside, but it seemed like a good idea to go for a walk… at first.
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In my mind this walk was going to be a glorious opportunity to photograph the flora and fauna we saw along the way.  Yes, I was going to capture, for all time, the beauty of late summer.

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I had my camera with me, but thanks to the hazy weather conditions + lens-smudging humidity most of my photos aren’t clear enough to be of any interest to me– or anyone else.
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I share these three photos which are, trust me, the best ones of the bunch.  No pithy story to go with them, however.  Only a realization that I need to check the weather forecast before going on a walk… if my camera is coming along, too.

A Lazy-ish Summer Weekend, Idyllic As Can Be

/ Ally Bean / 22 Comments

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It was a relaxing weekend here.  Nothing special going on, but enough to do to keep us content.

I read an enjoyable novel.

He watched his latest TV obsession.

We went for a walk around the neighborhood noticing that the new houses under construction are very large indeed.

I did laundry.

He repaired and painted the mailbox post while I cleaned the mailbox and numbers.

We went to a triple-A baseball game.

I shopped online for a new lamppost light to replace the worn-out one shown above.

He caught up on work while sitting at the kitchen table.

We ate, for dinner, cold sandwiches instead of cooking hot somethings.

And we drank bottles of beer instead of goblets of wine.

It was a weekend befitting warm August days under clear blue skies.

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So gentle readers and kind lurkers, what did you do this past weekend?

Please tell all in the comments below.

QOTD: What Are Your Dreams For This Spring?

/ Ally Bean / 28 Comments

DSCN4911Always looking forward.  Always planning.  Influenced by Arrowsmith Aerosmith.  I’m rarely without a list of what I need to do next.

Usually my lists revolve around practical matters, but occasionally I make a personal list of a few simple things that I want to accomplish.  So without further babble, I give you…

My “Dreams For Spring” List

I want to go for a walk almost every day.  There will be no numerical goals attached to this walk, I just want to move more.  Rain be damned.

I want to bake muffins.  The reality here is that for months I’ve said that I’m going to start baking again– then I haven’t done so. However, now that it’s on my list, let muffin-palooza begin.

I want to travel somewhere.  While this may seem vague, I’ve learned that when I talk about a specific vacation, the gods start screwing around with my life.  So mum’s the word.  I’m going to sneak travel by them this time.  You just watch and see.

I want to work in the garden.  Last year I was lazy about gardening because– well, I haven’t a clue why I was, but I was.  This year I’m planning some new features out there– and some new color schemes.  Nothing like a design project to ramp up my interest and keep me enthused.

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So here’s the Question of the Day, presented to you on the last full day of Winter:

What are your dreams for this Spring?

Answer in the comments below and I promise that we here at The Spectacled Bean will cheer you on to victory!

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http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUaVqw0VvAY&t=77

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